The media urged to blacklist politicians who preach violence

Assistant Commissioner of Police James Abass Abaa, Deputy Eastern Regional Police Commander, has urged the media to blacklist any politician who preach violence.    He said politics was about marketing ideas of how a party could govern the state better and the media must use their position to ensure that politicians did just that and not give them the platform to use hate speeches and insulting words which could spark violence.    Speaking on behalf of the Eastern Regional Election Task Force at a meeting in Koforidua with journalists in the region, he said the media could do a lot of help to Ghanaians if they exhibit professionalism in their reportage of events leading to the elections.    He cited an example of some radio stations giving a "breakfast" of violent speeches daily to the public and urged the media to allow useful and civil programmes and utterances to be aired on their networks.    ACP Abaa said the Task Force headed by the police had made all contacts available for cross-checking of facts before it was published.   He said "the media must understand that certain matters of security operations cannot be made public and should therefore respect the limits of the police in sourcing for information".         ACP Abaa said the December poll was critical and every stakeholder including the media could not afford to be unprofessional in their duties and appealed to media personnel in the region to support the task force to ensure peaceful polls in December.  The Regional Public Affairs Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, expressed the hope that the media would partner the police and the media sub-committee of the task force to ensure peace before, during and after the December elections in the region

GNA